MMS Manages To Look Even More Ridiculous

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_05/023962.php

MMS MANAGES TO LOOK EVEN MORE RIDICULOUS.... That the Minerals Management Service, the agency within the Interior Department responsible for offshore drilling, was farcical during the Bush/Cheney era isn't exactly a new revelation. MMS became one of the most corrupt government agencies in American history, embracing an anything-goes atmosphere that led to literally Caligula-like corruption and debauchery -- including federal officials trading cocaine and sex for lucrative oil contracts.

But as the BP oil spill disaster gets worse every day, and scrutiny of the scandal-plagued agency intensifies, new details make the Minerals Management Service look even more ridiculous.

Federal regulators responsible for oversight of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico allowed industry officials several years ago to fill in their own inspection reports in pencil — and then turned them over to the regulators, who traced over them in pen before submitting the reports to the agency, according to an inspector general's report to be released this week. <...>

The report includes other examples of troubling behavior discovered by investigators. In mid-2008, a minerals agency employee conducted four inspections on drilling platforms when he was also negotiating a job with the drilling company, a cover letter to the report said.

And an inspector from the Lake Charles office admitted to investigators that he had used crystal methamphetamine, an illegal drug. Investigators said they believe the inspector may have been under the influence of the drug during an inspection.

The department's acting inspector general, Mary L. Kendall, emphasized that all of the misconduct occurred before the Obama administration took office in January 2009. The Interior Department's efforts to clean up the MMS have been ongoing, and the agency's ethics code was overhauled soon after the transition between administrations.

Also today, the Washington Post reports that MMS officials "repeatedly ignored warnings from government scientists about environmental risks in its push to approve energy exploration activities quickly." Documents also show that the department "frequently changed documents and bypassed legal requirements aimed at protecting the marine environment."

We'll be dealing with the consequences for a very long time.

—Steve Benen

[Jennicut]

1. I read parts of Earl Devaney's report from 2008 after the mining disaster in West Virginia.

MMS has been a mess for a long, long time.

[PufPuf23]

2. One could wager that how MMS complied with NEPA

will be raised as an issue by BP et al as cover to reduce liability.

An EIS or EA requires a "No Action" alternative, cummulative impact assessment, worst case scenarios, mitigation measures, etc. while Categorical Exclusions do not as the proposed action is deemed trivial. Plus MMS blew off other laws like the Endangered Species Act (which needs to be considered even for a CE).

[Grinchie]

3. A 4 year old story gets new legs.. Ahh the blame game and Sacrificial Cows begins

The MMS was cited during the Dubya regime as I recall, and was quickly swept under the rug by Congressional Republicans. It didn't seem to bother Dubya and Alfredo Gonzales much back then.

Then we get "Atta Boy Brownie" with Katrina,

People have such short fricken memorys it makes me puke.

Unfortunately, this Obama Administration is Deja Vu all over again.

All I have to say is "Atta Boy Hilary!" Keep fanning the bellicose rhetoric and maybe you can get the U.S. into two or three more violent clashes in far away places to take the attention off the crashing economy, environmental collapse, and general realization of the Peons that the Government is doing nothing for the benefit of the people, other than to keep them placated.

Enough!

These Oil disasters are not new... In fact, they are well documented on film, and are available on the Youtube, but people are so stupid they can't remember names like Torrey Canyon, or Amoco Cadiz...

Oil is a miraculous substance, yet we squander it on Transportation and trinkets which end up fouling the worlds oceans for decades.

[babylonsister]

4. Hillary is fanning bellicose rhetoric? Are you talking about NK?

Do you think she encouraged them to bomb SK's ship?

[Grinchie]

5. I haven't seen much evidence, other than S. Korea's economy collapsing.

Do the research.

[babylonsister]

6. Maybe you need to do some research...

Korean Roulette

May 23, 2010: As most naval experts expected, South Korea has confirmed that a North Korean torpedo sank the South Korean corvette Cheonan (and killed 46 of its crew) two months ago. North Korea denies any culpability, but the evidence against North Korea is pretty overwhelming. Once the entire ship (which broke in two after the explosion) was recovered, it was only a matter of time before the cause of the sinking was determined.

On April 15th the aft part of the warship Cheonan was recovered, and returned to land for closer examination. The international (America, Britain, Sweden and Australia sent shipwreck experts) investigation team needed about a month to thoroughly examine the wreckage and conclude what, and who, destroyed the ship. The 74 technical experts put the Cheonan back together, just as aircraft crash investigators do, and it was pretty clear that the ship had been hit by a torpedo. That was confirmed by the discovery of torpedo fragments (like the torpedo propeller and parts of the torpedo engine, all located at the rear of the torpedo, and most likely to survive). South Korea had captured North Korean torpedoes in the last decade, and was able to match the torpedo fragments found in and around the Cheonan, with those found in disassembled North Korean torpedoes. Some of the torpedo parts found near the Cheonan also had identical Korean alphabet notations on them (compared to the captured torpedo.) The surviving South Korean sailors were also interviewed, and their recollections were consistent with a torpedo explosion.

more...

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htwin/articles/20100523.aspx

[Grinchie]

7. Broke in two...

That usually means two pieces doesn't it?



While semantically, they may be correct, with a small portion of the bow missing, it's a little bit inflammatory when they could have simply struck an old mine...



An overwhelmingly intact Torpedo remnant.. Yep, they always look that good after blowing up in the center of an explosive charge..

You are being punked yet again Babylonsister, but I guess if the team is wearing your colors, objective evidence means nothing, and the party line is the end all.

I make no claims about the sources, but this was found with a casual google search.

[babylonsister]

8. North Korea is not 'my team'. You haven't provided any proof

to me to show this didn't happen, so until then, I'll keep my tin foil hat loosened, thanks.

[Grinchie]

9. Isn't that the attitude that allowed the Iraqi invasion?

Sure thing Babylonsister. It must be nice to suspend logic is support of War.


Never mind the populist uprising in Thailand, or the conflagration in Jamaica, or all the other hotspots.

If you are going to be ethical, it has to apply equally to all people without prejudice. In that regard, you fail.

[PufPuf23]

10. This thread sure got derailed lol !

From MMS corruption to North Korea vs South Korea in a handful of posts.